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Reflections: Our national search for the balance between fun and extinction · Kendall County News - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Reflections, our national search for the balance between fun and extinction.
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  Speaker 1: Written by Roger Mateel for Shaw Local News Network. This
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  Speaker 1: article is being read by an automated voice, brought to
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  Speaker 1: you by Everlit. Ask anyone, and they'll probably agree that
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  Speaker 1: common sense and hard work are rare commodities these days.
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  Speaker 1: Back in the old days, our parents assured us that
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  Speaker 1: when the nation was founded... Hard work and common sense
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  Speaker 1: were in such abundance that the result was the world's
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  Speaker 1: strongest democracy. Or maybe not. It seems that while a
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  Speaker 1: lot of Americans like for one reason or another these
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  Speaker 1: days to wear sackcloth and ashes while bemoaning the loss
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  Speaker 1: of the Protestant work ethic, we are actually working harder
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  Speaker 1: than ever before just to keep our heads above water.
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  Speaker 1: In colonial times, work was an existential necessity to stave
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  Speaker 1: off starvation and death from a variety of causes ranging
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  Speaker 1: from wild animals to Native Americans irate at the arrival
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  Speaker 1: of hordes of annoying European settlers that were seizing their land. Nonetheless,
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  Speaker 1: those first hardy pioneers liked to party so much they
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  Speaker 1: nearly annihilated themselves. For instance, when Thomas Dale, the newly
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  Speaker 1: appointed lieutenant governor, arrived in Virginia in 1611 after a
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  Speaker 1: long sea voyage bringing supplies to the new colony, he
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  Speaker 1: was astonished and not a little appalled at what he found.
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  Speaker 1: Instead of busily farming or hunting, the residents were, while
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  Speaker 1: nearly on the brink of extinction by starvation, happily playing
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  Speaker 1: lawn bowls. Farther north, the Puritans who maintained political and
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  Speaker 1: religious control of the Massachusetts colony took stronger measures. They
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  Speaker 1: made it illegal to fritter away any time at all
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  Speaker 1: on things, they decided, did not further the interests of
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  Speaker 1: the colony's survival. Christmas was banned. The Puritans said it
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  Speaker 1: was nothing but a pagan festival. and games ranging from
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  Speaker 1: quoits to shuffleboard, including that evil pastime, bowls were likewise proscribed.
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  Speaker 1: On Sunday, no recreation of any kind was allowed, not
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  Speaker 1: even taking a pleasant walk. One Sunday, a young couple
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  Speaker 1: got in trouble with the law for sitting together under
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  Speaker 1: an apple tree. But once the colonists got the Indian
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  Speaker 1: and predatory wild animal problems under control, by almost exterminating
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  Speaker 1: both groups, the old Puritan no-fun attitude began to change.
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  Speaker 1: In the centuries afterwards, we Americans invented holidays and all
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  Speaker 1: kinds of games and amusements to fill those holidays we
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  Speaker 1: have off from work. It's interesting to know, however, that
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  Speaker 1: the U.S. has no true national holidays like the rest
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  Speaker 1: of the world. The Constitution leaves holiday observances up to
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  Speaker 1: the states, so while the federal government gives its employees
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  Speaker 1: days off and even shuts down on certain days of
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  Speaker 1: the year, the states are not forced to go along.
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  Speaker 1: Getting back to those amusements everyone enjoys, So much, one
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  Speaker 1: of the earliest and most popular forms of entertainment in America,
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  Speaker 1: just like their cousins across the Atlantic, was gambling. Over
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  Speaker 1: the centuries, whole games of chance have come, enjoyed huge popularity,
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  Speaker 1: and have disappeared without a trace. Games like Faro. While
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  Speaker 1: Faro is gone, many of the terms it spawned remain.
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  Speaker 1: Terms like to break even, play both ends against the middle,
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  Speaker 1: and to be in hock. Clearly, though, it would be
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  Speaker 1: unthinkable for refined religious people to frequent the dens of
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  Speaker 1: farrow dealers. So with their penchant for games as well
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  Speaker 1: as for inventing things, Americans perfected the board game as
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  Speaker 1: a way to have good, clean fun. The Mansion of Happiness,
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  Speaker 1: invented in 1843 by a chaste New England lady, was
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  Speaker 1: the first popular American board game. By taking turns, players
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  Speaker 1: could work their way towards eternal salvation while avoiding perjury, immodesty,
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  Speaker 1: and drunkenness among other travails and evil traps. The game
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  Speaker 1: was popular, but really didn't catch the fancy of the nation.
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  Speaker 1: But then George S. Parker, a 16-year-old Massachusetts boy, invented banking,
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  Speaker 1: a game that allowed players to become rich instead of
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  Speaker 1: saved from perdition. His fortune was made, and Parker Brothers
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  Speaker 1: Games began. During the inventive 19th century, leisure pursuits from
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  Speaker 1: roller skates to bicycles were perfected and offered to an
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  Speaker 1: eager populace. By 1895, there were 10 million bicycles in
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  Speaker 1: the U.S. all competing for road space, and that before
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  Speaker 1: the automobile became a national impetus for better roads. When
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  Speaker 1: the growing legion of auto enthusiasts joined the bicyclists, who
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  Speaker 1: called themselves wheelmen, the clamor for paved roads became so
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  Speaker 1: strong that government actually acted to get them built. The
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  Speaker 1: fast pace of the American hunt for the perfect leisure
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  Speaker 1: activity moved ahead steadily until about 1973, when the nation's
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  Speaker 1: infatuation with work overcame its love affair with play. In
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  Speaker 1: the early 1970s, hours worked per person were about the
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  Speaker 1: same in the US and in Western Europe. By the
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  Speaker 1: 21st century, they were almost 50% less in Europe than
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  Speaker 1: in the US. Americans averaged 25.1 working hours per person
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  Speaker 1: of working age, Italians, 16.7. The French, 18.0. And Germans, 18.7.
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  Speaker 1: The average employed American works 46.2 weeks per year. The
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  Speaker 1: average French, 40.5. The average Swede, 35.4. While Americans work
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  Speaker 1: today just about as much as in 1970, Europeans work
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  Speaker 1: much less. Why? Well, for one thing, every worker in
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  Speaker 1: the European Union is guaranteed four weeks of paid vacation
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  Speaker 1: a year, no matter how long they've been at a company.
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  Speaker 1: no matter how low paying the job is. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: all but one of the richest countries in the world
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  Speaker 1: guarantees paid vacation, except the US. According to a 2019 study,
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  Speaker 1: people in Japan get 10 paid vacation days and 15
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  Speaker 1: paid holidays. In Australia, it's 20 paid vacation days and
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  Speaker 1: eight paid holidays. And in Spain, it's 25 paid vacation
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  Speaker 1: days and 14 paid holidays. It's not just a wealthy
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  Speaker 1: country thing either. Mexico, Afghanistan, Thailand, and Tanzania all guarantee
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  Speaker 1: paid vacation from work, at least in the formal job sector.
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  Speaker 1: In the U.S., zero paid vacation days and zero paid
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  Speaker 1: holidays are guaranteed. So it appears lack of time for
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  Speaker 1: fun and games is at least partly a political decision,
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  Speaker 1: but also something we support or we'd change it. As
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  Speaker 1: Bill Bryson put it in Made in America, William Morrow,
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  Speaker 1: and Company, 1994, almost uniquely among the developed nations, America
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  Speaker 1: took none of its productivity gains in additional leisure. it
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  Speaker 1: bought consumer items instead. And that, if it is any
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  Speaker 1: comfort to you, explains why you have a house full
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  Speaker 1: of labor-saving appliances and are more tired than ever. Interested
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  Speaker 1: in more local history? Visit